The ability to safely and efficiently rescue downed personnel has been a continued goal of the military and emergency services such as firefighters and medical technicians.
Often during the rescue of downed personnel, a tether of considerable length is needed. Likewise, the use of a second hand during rescue is required for equipment such as a gun or medical device. In the past, rescue tethers have been loose, bulky, and inefficient for rescues where time and space are at a premium. The use of rope or other braided strand usually was wrapped around downed personnel and secured with a knot. This procedure is grossly inefficient during a rescue due to the time and two hand requirement of tying and untying knots. Similarly, knots are traditionally weak points in a tether that come undone resulting in safety hazard for the personnel. The historical problem of inefficient and unsafe rescue tethers has mandated innovation. Therefore, a tether that is efficiently deployed and increases the safety of both rescuer and rescued is needed.
Many attempts have been made to provide a rescue tether that is efficient and safe for a wide variety of emergency situations. However, none of the rescue tethers currently available combine the ability to single-handedly operate and deploy a tether with a compact secure storage mode that allows for efficient transport. A tether including a handle has been invented, but the tether does not deploy nor does it have an easily transportable storage mode where the tether is secure. Likewise, a tether exists that has multiple attachment points. This tether fails to provide a quickly operational yet compact design that allows the user to deploy the tether at a selected rate. Therefore, attempts have been made to provide rescue tethers that are capable of efficient use in emergency situations, but have failed to provide an appliance that has multiple modes that is simple and efficient to operate.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need for improved rescue equipment that extracts personnel from an emergency situation.